Lots to do today and one is the grocery store – planning meals is a chore. Regarding the quilt pattern shown online, I won’t give any more of my precious time to thinking about it or worrying about it except this – – copyright laws are not worth the paper it’s printed on and it’s impossible to enforce and I never put this picture on the internet in the first place. As Jo explained, click bait never gets you to the pattern and it’s likely been posted overseas. Enough already!
Quilted this yesterday –
It didn’t go well – I must have had a weak seam intersection that I wasn’t aware of because I caught it and ripped it! Ugh.
I am working on the Couch Quilt – it’s going on the longarm next. Since I had limited coordinated fabric I had to piece strips and “ad lib” in several places. Pattern available for $5 and a SASE. I tried to step out of my comfort zone with this quilt – haha!
I want to use my tubs full of 2-1/2” strips – any ideas? Do you have a favorite pattern for strips? I have lots of sewing time this winter – it’s about 6 degrees this morning but southern Iowa got up to 10” of snow yesterday so we’re thankful.
The Friday $5 pattern today is Share With Your Sister shown here in two versions. Look at the quilt on the left, upper left corner. The square disappears – wrong choice. Don’t make the same mistake. The quilt on the right is much more effective.
And who wouldn’t love eating a fresh orange from Arizona when you live in the icebox called North Iowa? A box marked perishable arrived in my mailbox yesterday – a sweet friend sent it.
And that’s it for Friday from the blog about nothing.
Love your cartoon humor! Laughed out loud in optometrist waiting room! LOL. Regarding strips…how about a French braid? 2 1/2 x 6 1/2. Start on a 6 1/2 sq cut diagonal. Make as long as you want, 5 strips. You get the idea?? Scrappy Love
Bonny – yes! A great idea – might start today!
Mary, look up Jelly Roll Sizzle. It’s a free pattern from Fat Quarter Shop. They have lots of free patterns for 2 1/2” strips. Most of quick and easy but turn out great!
Cathy – thanks – I will!
OMG that picture at the end is hysterical. I laughed out loud thinking of how many of us probably resemble her!!!! Thanks for that big ole belly laugh for me.
I am going to use some of my 2 1/2” strips with a free project Corey Yoder is starting on her blog Coriander Quilts in another few weeks. I also like many of the Jordan Fabrics free quilts on their daily emails where they offer the patterns like ribbons table runner using charms. I think I could get into the owners precut kits ( all laser cut to save my hands) if I wanted to buy more because I struggle with color coordination with all my scraps now. Good thing I like scrappy quilts to sew.
Always enjoy the final laugh!
I don’t see the rip in your quilt. When longarming and I find a seam with issues, I put a small amount of Elmer’s glue under it and hold it till it drys. No more gaps to get caught under the hopping foot.
Yep, those quilts are a stretch for you, but, they are great quilts.
Jo – wow, I had no idea you could glue it together! I just didn’t even know there was a problem with the seam until it happened!
Jo, thank you for this wonderful tip. This happens to me often, and I had no idea for a solution.
You absolutely amaze me, Mary!! I wish I could make quilts as quickly as you do!!
I’m so sorry about the frustration with patterns online and not being able to enforce copyrights. We had trouble protecting our logo design years ago and it is so frustrating when your rights are not respected. Unfortunately, seems to be a sign of the times, doesn’t it?
Have a great weekend!! We have been in the single digits most of this week, but they are hinting at 60’s for the weekend!
Diane – I did point out your temps to Rick – we’re used to it, you aren’t! I believe the poachers are foreign – so be it.
Diane – forgot to say that these pieces are huge – 4-1/2” wide!!! So it went fast.
It’s comforting to know that a seasoned veteran quilter like you can still admit making a mistake and it’s refreshing that you brush it off, make the best of it and move on. It’s kind of like starting a book and getting far enough in that you realize you don’t have interest in finishing that particular book as there are so many out there to be read. Though, unlike a book, a quilt is always worth completing ‘warts and all’ as they provide warmth, comfort and make a home feel cozy.
Marilyn – I’m going to applique a dog over the hole – haha!
Mary, our son’s cat ate a hole in a flannel
Quilt I made from one of your patterns. I appliquéd a moose over it😀
If it is any consolation I have tired accessing that free pattern website and it just takes me in circles. /either I’m computer illiterate or its a hoax. I have given up on their site and delete all emails they send me, I’m glad I did not accomplish getting any patterns from them. Hopefully very few were able to obtain your pattern.
I just went on the Fat Quarter Shop site. I didn’t see anything about free patterns. So I searched at the top for the pattern Jelly Roll Sizzle and it came up under short cut series. Downloaded and printed it.
Hope that helps.
Love Phil’s wife cartoon. 70 degree and sun tease on Wednesday was nice but almost too much of a good thing. Spring bulbs are starting to come up. We came home Tuesday to a small herd of deer eating corn in our field. They had spring fever too.
I found a couple of charm packs that need to be in a usable form. I pulled out my Country Threads collection. So many choices and decisions. It is my ‘go to’ for charm quilts.
What we called “ad libbing” or “making do” when it comes to putting a quilt top together is now known as
“improvisational” piecing. Fancy word for the same thing. I love that sweet Eureka quilt, simple but effective.
Mrs. Goodneedle – tell us about Augie – I think we need to start a dog post every now and then. What do you think?
I just got the Creative Grids Wonky Log cabin ruler to try with jelly roll (2.5”) strips. Missouri Star Quilt Company has some great tutorials on YouTube. They also have a free tutorial app you can download to your smartphone and search for jelly roll quilts.
Your Eureka quilt turned out great! Improv can fix a multitude of problems. My bro-in-law collects teacups so someone gave them a teacup jigsaw puzzle. When they completed it there was a piece missing. They wanted to modpodge it and hang it near the shelf where he displays the teacups so they found some mini teacups and spoons and glued them “randomly” on the puzzle. I had no idea they were covering the missing piece but my sis-in-law told me when I exclaimed over how cute it was.
I love the spring like, refreshing colors in the Couch Quilt!!!
Hi Mary,
Great quilts, love the colours of the one with dogs, and thanks for the joke with Phyllis! Made me laugh out loud.
Mary, did you forget quilting is putting all the useable fabric to work? And the glue. We tend not to even think of such simple fixes. I love Fray Check. It is a real fixer for a ton of stuff! Seems like I remember reading a Country Threads hint: If you run out of a fabric, just add something else????? In other words, don’t get too uptight about stuff. And a dog will take care of the problem!
What is click bait? I’m barely in the 21st Century….. I’ll never understand all this electronic stuff. The 12 year-old neighbor kid had to set up the VCR? They grew up and left home.
Supposed to be really nice this weekend and temps hit the basement next week. Such is life. We’ll just put on more clothes. The cold air does feel good, too, if the wind behaves.
Take care everybody. Betty in Rapid City
Betty – evidently click bait takes you to a site that receives money for everybody who visits. They don’t have anything for free or for sale. I really don’t know either – but that’s how I understand it.
Betty- look at the second round – I had to use two different shorter pieces instead of two identical long pieces – so you see I did add something else and it’s fine. Not what the pattern called for but okay.
I didn’t even notice the problem. Especially on a quilt like that. We the quilters get rather picky, but even another quilter doesn’t notice. Just keep the dog busy.
Betty in Rapid City
Betty – so that’s the thing – by using two instead of one, it all worked out fine – but that’s not the way the pattern reads.
I normally don’t send responses, except when folks ask for help, so here goes.
You can’s go wrong with 9 patches or square in a square as shown in your free pattern listing, but you can also find oodles of ideas from the free pattern pages of all the fabric manufacturers and some of the designers’ blogs. Pick any of them. I’m sure there are interesting ideas to choose from. That’s what I do when I get stumped. Hope this helps.
Yes, Mary, we did get 10-12″ of snow here in Oskaloosa yesterday. The wind blew all day, so we have a lot of drifts in our yard. Our neighbor came down last evening and plowed out our yard. We are so thankful for him. It is too much for my husband to do it anymore. I had to scoop a path to the barn this morning. But the wind died down last night, and we have a beautiful sunshiny day today, even though the temp is 18*. That cartoon is so funny. Thanks for sending some cheer our way today.
Jeanine – we saw Oskaloosa on the news last night – ugh.
Hi Mary, love the cartoon! That’s me in my bright pink dressing gown(minus the hair rollers!)I will be packing up quilts and extra bedding today to send off to the poor people dealing with losing everything in the floods, can’t imagine the horror of losing everything, so sad.Fine weather now thank goodness. Take care everyone, best wishes from Sandy
Sandy – the pictures from NZ are disastrous – startling and scary! Glad you’re ok.
Phil’s ex wife is a hoot. If I lived in Iowa I’d have to laugh out loud. My folks left Maine when I was 10! I’ve been in Georgia ever since. Thankful😱
Wonda
I am at the quilt retreat laughing at Phyllis. That is adirable. Hubby is being “ Dad Sat” by our son😹😹. Daughter’s turn tomorrow. There are some beautiful quilts being made here. I am putting together Christmas blocks that a woman in the guild made before she passed from Pancreatic cancer.
I love a 2 1/2” strip quilt I made from Christmas strips that you sew end to end. I think it is called 1600? I put flannel on the back.
Love the idea about a dog blog Mary, let’s do it!
Hi Mary…I have a tub of 2 1/2” strips too…I have been looking online for ideas.
My sister lives in Mesa and this morning we received 68 lbs of grapefruit and oranges from her trees. They are so delicious.
I am caught up on t-shirt quilts, so have had fun making hot pads of various sizes using orphan blocks and scraps. I have 8 ready to hand stitch binding. Track season will be here soon, so I take hand sewing with me while I wait for Soren’s turn to high jump.
Soren made her college choice … after visiting 8 schools that were recruiting her….and she is going to be right in my backyard at good old UNI. I am so excited to have her so close. All my grands live 2 1/2 hrs from me. Somebody asked if she is going to live with us….no way…we have been through the college moves and drama with our girls…that was enough for a lifetime! She needs to experience college life and dorm living.
Enjoy your sewing time…I think this week I have had the most fun sewing for a long time..no deadlines…no orders..just playing!
Take care!
Julie b – someone suggested braid and I’m going to start and see how I like doing it. Very very fun for you to have Soren close – more track meets in your future!
Mary, I believe you may have made the free Tilda pattern, Plum Garden, but I’m sure it would be fun to do by using the idea of the pattern, a column of colors that repeat, without having to use the exact same fabrics in each column, just keeping the repeated colors in the column constant. Scrappy always looks wonderful!
I’m sorry about your pattern but life is short and you’re smart to move on. My husband copyrights his music but who knows? Someone may use it, make millions and we won’t be able to afford the lawyer, so… “let it go” are probably the hardest three words to digest when someone does wrong by you.
Carol -yes, I did make that Tilda pattern. Hmm, that’s an idea. What kind of music does your husband write?
He writes music for guitar, which he plays, and he sings. I guess you’d call it soft rock/folk pop. I’m not much of a music person, so I’d say James Taylor/Ed Sheeran etc would be similar. However they make millions and he doesn’t!
Mary, I think a braid quilt would be fun and quick. I have used them for a border on numerous quilts when I needed a certain size border. It would be easy to make yours the length you want and the width without a pattern. I love the idea of applique on top of the oops area of your new quilt. The snow just keeps on coming to Iowa, stay warm and be safe. Still raining here in TN and I think we will be needing a boat if it keeps up. Our dogwood trees are blooming, and the rain is stripping them of their flowers, so sad.
regarding the hole (rip) in the quilt. i agonized for months on repairing my nephew’s quilt (his dog had taken a huge bite out of it). after a lot of thought, i made a large patch to cover everything, stitched it on with machine, then added hand stitches similiar to large blanket stitches on each edge. on the top of the patch, i wrote “OUCH!” he is so picky but loved it. don’t see why we couldn’t do the same on a new quilt. on another note, florida has decided to have new seasons;i.e, winter (2 days) spring (1 day), summer 88 degrees and next week will be 92. argh. not ready yet. it is february for goodness sake. patti in florida
I love your repair story! I’m going to stitch my patch on by machine, too. Whatever little kid gets this quilt can look for the doggy!
Mary,
Show the quilt to us when you get the doggy appliqued on to it. It’s a good way to fix it.
Jeanine
I call that “functional applique”.
I’ve had great fun making Jelly Roll Race II Quilts. They are very easy! You can’t make a mistake. No matching. Missouri Star Quilt Company has several patterns, Jelly Roll Race, Jelly Roll Race II, … Each slightly different. I cut leftovers up into 2-1/2” strips and made a great dent in my stash. Lots of information online to change the finished size with different number of strips.
Mary,
You shared a picture recently of a quilt that uses jelly roll strips. I found it on-line. It is called Jelly Roll Twist. I have added it to my folder of quilts I want to make. Since we never seem to run out of strips, that is one you can keep for the future.
Iowa City got 11 inches of snow on Thursday. With temps at 40 degrees, it is melting now. What an up and down winter with snow and cold! I am eager for spring.
Vicki – found it, thank you! Glad we didn’t get 11” of snow!
The weather was decent temp wise, it the east wind is raw. I made taco meat, chili, and a chicken n rice dish from Iowa girl Eats website! She is awesome! I am gluten free so I love her! Check her out! Google her!
The ground hog if a fool! Haha
Our kids think we are crazy because we could get out of the cold and we hang in here. We have gone to Florida, Arizona, California, Hawaii….back in the day while we were working and needed to getaway from the stress! Well, now we don’t have jobs….not sure we don’t have stress?? But, we can just sit here and watch the snow fly. I can sew and cook or make cards or whatever and hubby can do whatever suits his fancy. Nothing wrong with this scene! No airport stress , no car rental stress, no reservation stress at a hotel! Hear me????retired people?
Relax
Joy. – I hear you loud and clear! I am quite capable of spending the winter in Iowa.